Troy Taylor Says Elijah Brown Will 'Absolutely' Compete For Starting Quarterback Role

Stanford's star recruit is expected to push for the starting quarterback role

The quarterback position has been the talk of the town in Palo Alto over the past couple of days following the news that Stanford landed 2025 four-star Bear Bachmeier.

However, the younger brother of current receiver Tiger Bacmeier doesn't arrive on campus for another year. In the meantime, former Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown is the gunslinger that everyone is looking out for. Brown finished his high school career with two state titles, a 42-2 record, and was arguably one of the best high school signal-callers ever. 

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He was the big fish that new head coach Troy Taylor and company were able to reel in during the 2024 cycle, and he along with five other recruits will be enrolling early. Something that can make a huge difference in the quarterback battle for Brown. While Stanford does return Ashton Daniels who started 10 games for them in 2023 and threw for 11 touchdowns and eight picks, Taylor recently revealed the quarterback position is very much up for grabs.

When doing an interview on All-ACC, Taylor was asked if he thinks there will be an open quarterback competition in which Brown could be in the mix for. After highlighting the fact that Brown is one of six early enrollees at Stanford, which is the most in program history, he revealed that the job is very much up for grabs.

"In terms of competition, yeah absolutely," said Taylor. "We're going to build this thing on competition whether...you're a freshman or a transfer or whatnot. You're going to come in and if you're the best player you absolutely will play and all the guys know that. That's the way I've done it everywhere I've been. We have an outstanding class, it'd be really silly for us to not allow them to compete and play if they are ready. With that being said the adjustment to college football obviously is a big one, but that's why we're here as coaches."

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Aside from Brown, receiver Emmett Mosley, defensive lineman Benedict Umeh, defensive end Dylan Stephenson, linebacker Sam Mattingly, and defensive back Cam Richardson will all be enrolling early. 

If Brown is able to learn the playbook as quickly as possible and showcase that he can make the right throws, as well as make some big plays, he very well could be starting as a freshman.